Mr. Bernard Gloster:

I would be very happy to hear from Deputy Cairns on the individual circumstances and I will see if we can assist. I want to be clear, as I do not want to raise expectations, that the funding, including capital funding, of FRCs is a much bigger piece than for Tusla itself. It is important to say that.

In our recent discussions with the Minister, he was very committed to seeing if he could unplug the piece concerning the back-to-school allowance.

I know there has been much criticism of the foster carer's allowance recently. I am sorry to hear that people are communicating to Deputy Sherlock that they felt patronised in some way. The foster care allowance is approximately €350 or €325 depending on the age of the child. It also comes with the proviso that it is totally tax free and it is not assessable as means for any other social welfare payment. It is separate to considerations on children's allowance and other issues. There were considerations built into it at the time but time has moved on and we need to review it and look at it in a different way. As I outlined, we fully support that.

I will ask Ms Murphy to comment on the consistency of support workers, and also the issue of the assessment of need consent raised by Deputy Costello.